The present invention relates to a compartment for use in storing a portable garage door opening transmitter, and particularly one with a closure door which serves as the actuating means for the transmitter.
Electrically operated garage doors and the associated remote transmitters are becoming increasingly popular. The remote transmitter is usually a portable battery powered unit which is carried in the homeowner's vehicle for selectively transmitting an electromagnetic radiation signal when actuated. The signal, in turn, is received by a garage door control receiver for controlling the garage door opening mechanism attached to the door. Garage door opening transmitters usually are portable units with the vehicle owners typica11y clipping them to the vehicle's visor or in some cases, removably mounting them to the dashboard. Sometimes the transmitters are placed in an accessory tray or even in the glove box.
There exists several inconveniences with such prior mounting schemes, not the least of which is the necessity to reach to an inconvenient location to gain access to the transmitter. If it is mounted on a visor, it is necessary to steer and watch the movement of the vehicle toward the garage door while reaching and locating the typically relatively small actuating button for actuating the transmitter. Garage door opening transmitters removably mounted to the dashboard typically have to be removed from the dash and directed toward the garage door for operation. If mounted on the visor, the transmitter becomes a safety hazard in the form of a relatively hard projection at the head level of the vehicle. Further, it obstructs motion of the visor, which when moved, sometimes knocks the transmitter from the visor. Thus, such an arrangement interferes with the visor use as well as poses a safety hazard.
Recently, garage door opening transmitters have been integrally mounted within the body of a visor, as disclosed for example in U.S. Pat. No. 4,247,850, or in a housing mounted between the visors of a vehicle, as represented in U.S. Pat. No. 4,241,870. Both of these typically original equipment manufactured installations of a garage door opening transmitter or its housing represent a significant improvement over the portable, clip-on-type transmitters. Although solving many of the problems with the prior art portable transmitting units, these systems are not designed to accommodate a variety of different transmitter units which the homeowner may have since they employ unique packaging for the transmitter.